About Us

A highly respected, innovative former public sector executive with over 30 years experience in the fields of health promotion, protection and programming for the aged, women, and children at risk. A unique combination of skills, experience, passion for progress and business transformation. Career accomplishments showcase fresh insight and new perspectives in reform, governance and accountability regimes, and service delivery and performance measures/results. Exceptional networking skills, including consensus building with high-level external partners to influence and advocate for vulnerable people. A leadership style that is inspirational, collaborative, and results-oriented. Unique expertise and participation with federal government Cabinet decision-making process and Parliamentary and Senate Committees. Strong representational skills at the international level.

Gloria Gutman

Dr. Gutman is well known in the field of gerontology as an educator, author, and consultant. Dr. Gutman developed the Gerontology Research Centre at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and was its director from 1982-2005. She also developed the Department of Gerontology at Simon Fraser University and served as its Director from 1983–2003. She is currently a Research Associate in Gerontology and Professor Emerita at SFU.

Gutman is the author/editor of 22 books and monographs, over 150 scholarly articles, reports, and chapters, and over 275 conference presentations. She has been a consultant to the Ministry of Lands, Parks and Housing in B.C., the Continuing Care Division of the B.C. Ministry of Health and to Health Canada. She has served on a number of federal-provincial task forces, including one which established guidelines for comprehensive services for the psychiatrically impaired elderly, and one which developed design guidelines for housing and care facilities for the elderly.

Dr. Gutman’s research interests are wide-ranging; they include seniors’ housing, long term care, health promotion, seniors and emergency preparedness and prevention of elder abuse and neglect. Projects recently completed include a comprehensive literature review of the impact of biological, chemical and radiological hazards as well as climate change on seniors’ health, a study of emergency preparedness among seniors, a study of migrant live-in caregivers providing elder-care and a study of the service needs of Vancouver Punjabi and Mandarin-speaking older immigrants.

Louise Plouffe

Louise Plouffe holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Ottawa, Canada. She brings extensive experience in aging policy within Canada and with the World Health Organization in her current role as ILC-BR’s Senior Researcher where she plays a leading role in international comparative policy research and advice. She conducted and guided policy research and analyses related to healthy aging for the Public Health Agency of Canada and the National Advisory Council on Aging for many years, and was a consultant on aging and health promotion to the World Health Organization, the Pan-American Health Organization and the European Commission. Together with Alexander Kalache, Louise led the development of WHO Age Friendly Cities initiative, which has since become a global movement, as well as the seminal report Older Persons and Emergencies: An Active Ageing Perspective. Louise has also published scholarly articles on the evolution of age-friendly communities internationally and in Canada. She has served on several boards and committees, including the Advisory Board of the Institute of Aging (Canadian Institutes for Health Research) and the Canadian Association on Gerontology. In recognition of her distinguished contributions, Louise has received the Knowledge Translation Award from the Public Health Agency of Canada as well as the Contributions to Gerontology Award from the Canadian Association on Gerontology.